Sunday, September 21, 2008

All You Need to Know...

... on the Bush bail out is contained in this sentence.

The proposal is a mere three pages long, but it gives sweeping powers to the government to dispense gigantic sums of taxpayer dollars in a program that would be sheltered from court review.

In other words, hand the keys to the Treasury over to Bush & Company, and let them do what they want with no oversight.

Everyone just stop and think about that for a minute.

"It's a rather brief bill with a lot of money," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the Banking Committee chairman. "We understand the importance of the anticipation in the markets, but we also know that what we're doing is going to have consequences for decades to come. There's not a second act to this -- we've got to get this right."

Hand the keys to the Treasury over to Bush & Company, let them do what they want with no oversight, and there will be no second chance to get it right.

Feeling better yet?

Lawmakers digesting the eye-popping cost and searching for specifics voiced concerns that the proposal offers no help for struggling homeowners or safeguards for taxpayers' money.

Hand the keys to the Treasury over to Bush & Company, let them do what they want with no oversight, no second chance to get it right, and no safeguards for you or your money or your kid's money. Or your grandkid's money. To infinity.

Is this sinking in?

But wait! There's more! If you act now to apply any of those safeguards, it will be labeled "partisan politics", and you can be held responsible for the next Great Depression! Neat!

Signaling what could erupt into a brutal fight with Democrats over add-on spending, Boehner said "efforts to exploit this crisis for political leverage or partisan quid pro quo will only delay the economic stability that families, seniors, and small businesses deserve."

Wow! I guess the only question left to ask is: How soon can the Democrats cave?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. said "we cannot allow ourselves to be in denial about the threat now facing the world economy. From all indications, that threat is real, and the consequences of inaction could be catastrophic. Every single American has a stake in preventing a global financial meltdown."

Answer: By the end of the week.

This must be what George meant when he floated the idea of an "ownership society". We get to "own" the failures of conservatism, just as soon as they finish stealing the money.

For a bit of sanity - read Maryscott's diary on the Sanders proposal, and then pray like hell that Congress WAKES UP this week and stops this potential disaster from happening.